The ultimate goal is for this new technology to be used by the oil and gas industry for real-time monitoring of marine mammals during seismic survey vessels and oil exploration and production (E&P) activities. We anticipate this system to improve monitoring and mitigation capabilities for E&P activities, most of which rely on outdated 2-D hardware and analog passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) systems. A prototype array has been fabricated and is undergoing tests which will culminate with a test planned on Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO) research vessel the R/V Marcus G. Langseth. This project is being sponsored by the E&P Sound and Marine Life Joint Industry Programme (JIP), a consortium of E&P companies and organizations supporting research to help increase understanding of the effect of sound on marine life.

Click here to view a presentation on the 3-D-V Array made by Tom Norris at the ESOMM 2018 Conference.